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I haven’t posted in a while and that is because this past week I just needed to drop everything and be the best Mom I could be to my sweet little girl.

<TMI, there will be baby poop and vomit talk in this post, please don’t read if it will make you squeamish>

It all started last Friday late at night, I woke up to Cameryn going number two, which I thought was strange since she never does that in the middle of the night. While changing her I noticed it just didn’t look right. I took her back to bed and woke Keith up and said I just felt like something wasn’t right with her. Almost as if on cue, she started crying out in pain. She wouldn’t even look at us and we couldn’t get her to respond to us. She was just barely moving making the saddest sounds ever but you could tell something wasn’t right.

I got very scared something was seriously wrong. About 20 minutes later she went poop again and while Keith was changing her diaper we noticed there was fresh bright red blood. Something was wrong.

I immediately opened a new pair of contacts and got dressed for a trip to the emergency room. While doing that, Cameryn started responding to us talking to her and was smiling at us and interacting a bit. A relief since she wasn’t doing that just minutes before.

We decided to look online (the source for all new parents) and we found that we should just monitor her bowel movements and see if there was anymore blood in it. Cameryn went about 6 more times overnight but none of them had bright red blood in them (just some dark red blood that looked like it was from her previous diaper). We all went back to bed since it was only 2am, but I couldn’t sleep (I was too worried) so I read a book.

Morning came and she seemed to be doing a tiny bit better but something still wasn’t right. I called the on call doctor at our clinic at around 8am and he told us to go to the ER. So that is exactly what we did. He told us to go to the hospital where I gave birth as they house the pediatrics ward there incase Cameryn needed to be admitted.

Once at the ER it took only minutes until we were brought back to get Cameryn examined. We spent about 4 hours there total and they sent us home telling us to give C Tylenol every four hours to keep her fever down and to collect three stool samples to bring back to them, in addition to the one they collected while we were there. The nurse, who was awesome, told us to call back with any questions what so ever and ask for her.

Back at home, Cameryn started to violently projectile puke (think the movie the Exorcist, I’m not even slightly joking) every time we would try and give her her medicine. Her fever kept getting stronger as well and I became super worried. I called the nurse at the hospital who told us to get that medicine in Cameryn and give her a tepid bath to cool her off. So for the rest of the day and night, the cycle continued. Cuddling Cameryn to keep her calm and from being scared, trying to give her Tylenol, projectile vomiting, tepid bath. It was the worst night of my life. I’ll never get the images out of my head of little C puking and being covered in vomit. We had to cut her out of her onesie twice that night.

Sunday morning, she was not getting any better and now the fears of dehydration were setting in. Living in Arizona doesn’t help either so I once again called the nurse at the ER at 7am, when her shift started. She told us to bring Cameryn back in once she woke up (she was taking a nap). So Keith and I showered, packed a hospital bag for C, we just knew she would be admitted.

Back in the ER, we had a different doctor who seemed much more worried about C’s condition then the doctor the previous day. He decided Cameryn needed fluids (she was pretty dehydrated form all the diarrhea and vomiting with not eating) and ultimately to be check into the hospital’s pediatrics ward.

So we spent the next six hours in the ER before getting transferred to the hospital. Poor Cameryn had an IV in her hand and was just not feeling well at all. The nurses at first couldn’t find a vein for the IV and had even tried putting it in her veins in her head after getting it cleared form the doctor. This was the most painful thing I’ve ever had to watch. I was crying and Cameryn was looking at me screaming out in the most painful cries I’ve ever heard probably thinking, help me mom. I felt awful. I never want to experience anything like this ever again. It was the worst feeling in the world. Knowing your child is in pain and you can’t do anything really sucks. I hate feeling helpless.

In the afternoon, we were admitted to the hospital where the nurse said they just got the results from her stool sample from the previous day and Cameryn had Salmonella. Wait, what? Did she just really say salmonella? How could that be? Cameryn is still exclusively breastfed?

Both Keith and I were shocked. If you’re a friend of mine or have ever been to our house, you know I keep a very clean house. Like very clean, not to mention I wash my hands like crazy. What was even more odd is that Keith and I didn’t get it. So where did Cameryn pick this up from?

The nurse stared asking us questions about how she could have come into contact with it.

Do you guys keep/have a pet turtle at home? No.

Do you have any pet reptiles? No, I’m deathly afraid of snakes and we have enough lizards outside of our house.

Do you have pet chickens? No.

Do you’re neighbors have pet chickens? No.

Could it have been something Cameryn ate? No, she is still only consuming breast milk.

(We still don’t know the source of where she got it and the only thing I can think of is we went to the Farmer’s market the weekend prior to her getting sick and I bought chives. I know chives can contain bacteria so I really wash the crap out of them. I used them both Thursday and Friday night with dinner so that would be about the right incubation period of the salmonella before it struck her with symptoms. I’m waiting for the US department of Health to contact us (they take these cases seriously) to see if they can track down where she picked it up. I’d hate to think this could happen to another baby or person for that matter from buying vegetables from the farmer’s market.)

Once we were in our hospital room, Cameryn was finally allowed to get antibiotics since the doctors’ now knew what she had. She was also giving more Tylenol as her fever was almost 103 degrees.

(Watching the Homerun Derby with Daddy)

By the following morning, I could tell my sweet little girl was starting to get better as she was flashing some gummy smiles my way and trying to play with some toys a bit. She was improving and it was such a relief.

During the day on Monday you could totally see her improving by the hour. We stayed in the hospital another night and when the nurses saw her bright eyed on Tuesday morning, they said, “You don’t need to be here anymore,” and they were right. She had done a complete 180 and was doing great! The doctor came in before noon and said we could leave! She wrote Cameryn a prescription for Amoxicillin to be taken for three days.

We were so excited to get home. I was utterly exhausted and so was Cameryn. Tuesday night was the first and only time Cameryn has slept through the night. I woke up around 3am in a panic because she hadn’t moved or made a peep and she was just peacefully sleeping next to me!

I wanted to share our story since babies can get salmonella. I’ve since researched it and they can get it from a million different things, even walking in the produce department of the grocery store. I know from now on I’ll be scrubbing all my farmer’s market vegetables with soap and am not going to buy chives for a while. I still don’t know exactly where she got it form but I’d bet it was from the chives. Please always trust your instinct if you think something just isn’t right with your little one. I’m so happy my mother’s instinct kicked in and I’m glad I trusted it. I would have done anything to have been the one who got salmonella and would have done anything to of taken the pain and discomfort away from Cameryn.

I’m just so thankful to have our little girl feeling well and happy again!

25 Responses to “Cameryn’s Hospital Scare”

Omg I had no idea just how scary this was for you. It is my worst nightmare to have a super sick baby in pain. You handled it so well and did a great job. I am so happy C is smiling that sweet smile again. Hugs!

Oh kjirsten, I am so sorry you all had to go through that. My husband recently had salmonella and he was laid up for days and SO sick and he hurt like hell as a grown man. Poor poor baby but I’m glad shes doing well now. Thank god for breast feeding at times like those because you were going her the best nutrition of all which I’m sure helped. Luke had to get blood taken when he was 3 weeks and they couldn’t find a vein either, so I know the feeling of watching that. It’s absolutely heart breaking. I’ve heard dog food can contain salmonella so maybe be careful of that? I’m happy cameryn is better. Sending good thoughts and prayers your way.

I didn’t think about the dog food. Our pediatrician we have, who did Cameryn’s follow up appointment said dogs aren’t carriers of it, but I will have to look into his food, Wellness brand because maybe it has it. We were worried that maybe she touched one of his toys and got it that way but my doctor didn’t think so, she told us to call the vet. But, you just never know!

What a nightmare this had to be for your little family! I am so sorry you all had to go through that – especially Cameryn! Poor little one! As a new Mom, this is good info to be aware of. Thank you for sharing! Stay well!

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